The United States was sitting on the sidelines yesterday as Iran took the lead in an offensive to recapture Saddam Hussein’s home town from Islamic State, deploying ground forces, artillery and drones against the jihadists. The Pentagon said that it was aware of the operation but was not taking

Iraqi troops backed by Shia militias began a large-scale offensive to recapture the former birthplace of Saddam Hussein from Islamic State yesterday — a landmark battle that could, however, deepen the sectarian divide that helped to usher in the jihadists. About 30,000 Iraqi troops and Shia

Tens of thousands of Iraqi troops, backed by Shia militias, Sunni tribesmen and coalition aircraft, have begun their biggest offensive against Islamic State in an attempt to retake the birthplace of Saddam Hussein. Isis seized Tikrit in June last year after the collapse of the Iraqi army across

A Syrian rebel group that emerged last year as the United States’ most important ally within the armed opposition announced its dissolution yesterday after losing scores of fighters and American-supplied advanced weaponry in an assault by al-Qaeda affiliates. Harakat Hazm, which last year became

Kurdish forces have been accused of systematically preventing Iraqi Arabs who fled the advance of Islamic State from returning to their homes, in a policy designed to expand the territory of a future independent state. The western-backed Kurdish administration was accused of a policy of ethnic

Yemen’s former president amassed as much as $60 billion from corruption during his three decades of rule over the Arab world’s poorest nation, a report from the UN has claimed. Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was forced from power in 2012 after a popular uprising, was hit with sanctions last year amid

Islamic State militants have abducted scores more Christians from villages in northeastern Syria and are now believed to be holding as many as 400. Isis began abducting the villagers, members of Assyrian Christian communities strung along the Khabur river, in dawn raids on Monday, carrying off at

Islamic State militants have abducted scores of Christian villagers in northeastern Syria in apparent retaliation for an offensive by Kurdish and Christian fighters backed by US-led airstrikes. Isis fighters attacked a string of Assyrian Christian villages along the banks of the Khabur river at

Islamic State militants abducted at least 90 Assyrian Christians in dawn raids on their villages in northeastern Syria in apparent retaliation for a blistering offensive by Kurdish and Christian fighters backed by coalition airstrikes. Isis fighters swept through a string of Christian villages

Islamic State fighters were forced to retreat from a swathe of northeastern Syria yesterday after Kurdish militiamen launched their largest offensive against the terrorist network since recapturing the town of Kobani. Syrian Kurdish fighters, backed by airstrikes from the US-led coalition